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To treat and prevent infections, antibiotics emerged in the twentieth century as effective drugs against harmful bacteria. But as the saying goes, you can sometimes have too much of a good thing.
Over the years, some strains of bacteria have evolved and adapted, becoming resistant to the use of antibiotics. This is considered one of the main threats to global health today. In the United States alone, resistance is estimated to cause more than 23,000 deaths each year and 2 million illnesses.
According to the World Health Organization, these diseases include pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea and salmonellosis, all of which are increasingly difficult to treat.
But Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers may have identified a potential solution to this problem. In a new study, they revealed how they had eradicated two strains of drug-resistant bacteria known to infect wounds.
The paper titled "Encapsulation of biofilms by probiotic inspiration for the treatment of complex infections" was published in the journal Advanced Materials on October 17.
The team used not only antibiotics, but also probiotics, namely good bacteria. Previously, studies had tried to test probiotics alone, a treatment that was not effective enough to eliminate pathogens.
But in this case, MIT's chemical engineers combined a commercially available probiotic called Bio-K + and a popular antibiotic called tobramycin. The probiotic was protected in an alginate shell, thus preventing the antibiotic from killing it.
"We examined the molecular components of biofilms and found that for Pseudomonas infection, alginate is very important for its resistance to antibiotics," said lead author Zhihao Li, former guest scientist from MIT. "However, no one has yet used this ability to protect the good bacteria from antibiotics."
In the laboratory, the research team tested the combination on a dish containing Pseudomonas and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – two species of bacteria that often attack together.
They observed a "drastic effect": all pathogenic bacteria were completely eliminated. In other words, the antibiotic / probiotic combination has a potential way to treat wounds that can be infected by different bacteria.
It is possible that new types of bandages or dressings will be developed in the future, incorporating antibiotics and encapsulated probiotics. Much remains to be done because the team will still need to test this method on animals and humans during clinical trials.
"The good thing about alginate is that it's FDA-approved and that the probiotic we use is also approved," added Li. "I think probiotics can revolutionize the treatment of sores in the future. Through our work, we have expanded the application possibilities of probiotics. "
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